“He’s wanting to learn. He’s wanting to grow. The talent was always there, but I think he fell to the second round more because of his weight. He’s tackled all those things,” Dukes said to USA TODAY Sports. “He’s got the great hands. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of Sterling Sharpe.”

Jeffery, who is 6-foot-3 and now weighs 216 pounds, gives the Bears a long, athletic receiver to bookend with Brandon Marshall. He blossomed in Marc Trestman’s offense, and finished the season with 1,421 yards, ranked sixth in the NFL.

It was quite a jump up from his 367 yards in his rookie season. But Jeffery isn’t approaching this season any differently than his previous seasons. He told USA TODAY Sports he isn’t feeling extra pressure to perform.

“There’s no pressure at all,” Jeffery said. “As Coach [Trestman] tells us, if we don’t win the championship, we all feel pressure. I’ve got the same goals as the team: win the division, win the NFC Championship, win the Super Bowl.”

Last year was the Bears’ first season under Trestman and Bears offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer, and they utilized Jeffery more than the Bears’ previous coaches, Lovie Smith and Mike Martz, did. He had three times as many catches last year, and his yards-per-catch saw a slight increase as well.

DeAndre Levy, Detroit Lions

Getting a chance to move around in coverage last season, Levy had a huge season in 2013. He had six picks and 15 broken up passes. The Lions need him to have another big season to compete in the tight NFC North.

Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles

Nick Foles surprised the NFL with pinpoint passing last year but is under more pressure now that he’s clearly the No. 1 starter. (Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports)

In his second year with the Eagles, Foles had a close-to-perfect season. Now, he’s the starter from Day 1, and the expectations for him to succeed are huge.

Robert Quinn, St. Louis Rams

Since his rookie year, Quinn has nearly doubled his output every season. He went from 5 sacks, to 10.5, to 19 in 2013. It’s unlikely he’ll manage 38 sacks in the coming season, but another big season could put Quinn in line to break Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22.5.